


Understanding

by Angellips999



Category: 7 Seeds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:40:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24183787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angellips999/pseuds/Angellips999
Summary: Nijiko doesn't understand what happened to her oldest friend.
Relationships: Ryou/Matsuri (7 Seeds)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers based on the Manga
> 
> I enjoy the Anime, but it wasn't enough. However it did bring me to the Manga which is brilliant, and make me fall in love with it. Please read the Manga if you haven't already.
> 
> *disclaimer - I own none of these characters or this world. They belong to Yumi Tamura

Understanding

Nijiko kept to the shadows as she watched the couple sitting on the ridge. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t understand _them _. Then again it seemed that everyone was mixing within the different teams, and she wasn’t sure how they were choosing, but none of the other couples had anything to do with herself. It was just that she _should _understand this particular couple. Ryou after all was her best friend, her once… her once what? Maybe she’d still be close to him if she had decided to follow him when he was banished, but she hadn’t.____

_____ _

_____ _

She had been excited to start building a new community. To work with Ran and the others. That there were more people than just them. It could have been perfect, but Ango and Ryou had fucked it up. Royally. A no coming back from kinda fucking up. Who knew that Summer A was made up of such damaged people. Other than herself of course, she wasn’t damaged. She knew that.

She missed the closeness she had with her oldest friend however, and she didn’t understand her need to observe him with that girl now. That spunky, sunny, silly little Summer B girl. A drop out, a failure. She disliked her since the first time she met her, all big hazel eyes and bright gold curls and bubbly kitten-like cuteness. She disliked how close she was to Ryou, how she kept a grip of his arm, or a touch on his hand. How accepting he was of the girl touching him, even when she could tell it annoyed him at times. The little creature even had the audacity to ask if she was Ryou’s girlfriend, at the same time admitting that she wasn’t going to give him up. Pfft.

She’d never forget the sight of him grabbing that girl from being devoured by a giant carnivorous worm and jumping down a cliff and into a worm hole. Why the hell had he done that? Put himself in danger for such an oblivious air head. The girl hadn’t even noticed the huge worm behind her, that is how oblivious she was, how inattentive to her surroundings. He had left her, Nijiko, behind for the sake of that silly girl. She sighed at the thought.

What did they do every evening? She had watched them before, mostly they just sat close beside each other on the ridge overlooking the ocean. She supposed they must be talking, but about what? The girl would be close to him, clinging to his arm or tucked tight to his side, his arm around her. He didn’t seem to mind. Sometimes they kissed. Her brows drew together at that thought. 

They had all heard their arguments over the cleaning robots in the OSP complex. She had to admit the girl was right when she told Ryou he was wrong for taunting people. She hadn’t expected Ryou to snap back in anger. He never got angry like that. But that girl, although he had made her cry, came right back at him and pretty much told him she loved him. In front of everyone. They had quieted down after that, and somehow, someway Ryou had single handedly dragged her up that cliff with Ango and Shigeru’s body despite all odds. So foolish, he put his life in danger again for that girl. 

Nijiko heard light footsteps approach and looked over. Koruni had made her way to where she was, and quietly settled beside her.

“Curious isn’t it?” 

Nijiko looked over at her question. “Hmm?”

“It’s confusing how things turned out. None of us expected this.”

“I guess.” She had never had a heart to heart with Koruni, they weren’t that close.

“You can’t see what he likes in her.”

“I think she reminds him of you.”

“Me?” Koruni giggled softly, careful to muffle it from carrying in the air. “Why me?”

“He always liked you. You used to save food for him.”

“Ryou was always very kind.” Koruni smiled at her. “But he never saw me that way.”

“Hmm, if you say so. I think he did.” Nijiko slid her eyes sideways at her. “That girl is like you, small and bubbly with curly hair.”

“That is superficial. I think he likes that she isn’t afraid of him. She stands up for him, but isn’t afraid to tell him when he’s wrong. She’s direct and tells him what she wants.” Koruni was gazing up at the couple. “She refuses to turn her back on him, to let him push her away. I think he likes having someone to care about.” 

“That is… ridiculous.” Nijiko scoffed. “Someone to care about is someone who will get you killed. People should be able to stand on their own two feet.” It was true though, the girl was the only one who accepted Ryou as Ryou and refused to turn her back on him. Even she, his closest friend, had failed in that.

“Oh Matsuri can do that, she’s just his opposite. That is attractive to some people.” She turned her big round eyes on Nijiko. “What happened between the two of you? I mean we all thought… that you two were a couple.”

“We were a… partnership.” Nijiko missed that partnership desperately at times. But then, if she chose that she’d have to walk away from everyone else. She loved being part of the large group. “We did try intimacy once, but… I didn’t like it. It wasn’t something we wanted to do together. We just made a really good team.”

“Like he and Ango?”

“Who ever saw that coming? Ango fucks up and Ryou sacrifices himself as the loyal shield that goes down with him. They were never close in school, yet here they are inseparable.”

“No, none of us did. It makes me sad. We were really damaged by those teachers weren’t we? I had no idea Ango and Ryou were so far gone.”

“Still… I don’t understand.”

“I can understand it.” Korani put her hand on Nijiko startling her. “It’s how I feel about Haru. He’s a musician, not a survivalist. He has no real skills to bring to the table. But he’s loyal and kind and willing to work hard. His music makes me happy. It’s something we never had in that institute. Something of value to the group over all. I think that is how Ryou feels about Matsuri. Her liveliness and cheerfulness are her strengths, her personality makes him happy. She makes him feel whole.”

Nijiko pushed her toes into the dirt digging small trenches. She thought about it. Didn’t they all deserve some happiness? How could other people with such different upbringings and backgrounds make them happy, in a way they couldn’t be amongst just themselves? Madonna had claimed Aramaki, poor man hadn’t a clue. Koruni had Haru. Gengoro was now hanging out with Akane. Even Ban seemed to have formed a relationship with Fujiko. That left her alone, since Ango and Ryou were out of the picture. Sure she had Ran, but it wasn’t an intimate relationship, and Ran had taken up with Karita. Who was left for her? She grimaced at the thought of who was left. Tsunomato, the pacifist poet? Besides Madonna half claimed him as well. Chimaki the artist who lived in the clouds? Semimoru, the idiot, was obsessed with little Natsu. She couldn’t tolerate his stupidity anyhow. Sakurya was younger than her, just a smart mouthed kid. Momotoro was a child. All of them were unacceptable.

She’d never forget when Matsuri had attached herself to Ryou saying she was going on the boat too. “You said you needed me, you’re no good without me.” She couldn’t imagine him saying that, she was just as stunned as everyone else, but then Ryou didn’t deny it. He just let her cling to his arm and shot a glance down at her and they had exchanged a look between the two of them. Something private and unspoken passed between the girl and Ryou, and she had remained tucked to his side a small happy smile curving her lips. She knew then that it was true, he had said those words to the girl. He had told her he ‘needed’ her. He had never told Nijiko that. Ever. Ryou didn’t need people. It was baffling.

“Could it be that you are jealous?”

“No.” Was she? Could she be? Yes, probably she was. She wasn’t going to admit it though.

“Don’t worry Nijiko, there will be someone for you. I don’t know who, but maybe Ango will bring new people back with him.”

Her eyes narrowed on the couple on the ridge, they were starting to stand up, just slender shadows now in the darkness, their pale hair shining slightly in the dim light. Ryou got up and offered his hand to the girl to pull her up. He always did that, just as he always walked her back down to the main camp and left her on the edge of it. Every evening it was the same. Ridiculous, as if the girl couldn’t walk the short distance on her own. She suddenly couldn’t wait until they left on the boat. Then they wouldn’t bother her so much anymore.

“I still don’t understand.”


End file.
